Little Hero
by cloudofcalm
Summary: Buffy and Angel's kiddo arrives at the Hyperion, sarcastic guardian spirit and a bunch of power in tow
1. Wings and a halo

Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue  
  
A/N: Yup, a new plot bunny hit. I wanted to write a little kid centric fic, and this plot bunny came and nibbled in the middle of the night. I have a thing of picking up gidgetgirl's fic-stuff, so a) read her stuff, and b) I'm checking stuff over so it doesn't bear resemblance to her stuff. Might seem like it in this chapter, but I'm promising, it's very different.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Angel. Angel!" Harmony said a bit louder. The vampire shook his head.  
  
"What?"  
  
"God, you aren't going all freaky memory loss, are you?" she asked. "Cuz you've been around like, a long time, and my grandparents always forgot who they were and stuff, and you're older than-"  
  
He held up a hand. "Harmony, do me a favour. Shut up."  
  
"Whatever," she said dismissively, then her eyes widened. "You're not gonna stake me, are you?"  
  
"No," he said faintly. She beamed.  
  
"There's like, a meeting for you, with some clients,"  
  
"Which ones?" he asked. She shrugged.  
  
"I don't know."  
  
He groaned. "What time?"  
  
"This afternoon," she said brightly. "Three o'clock sharp. Don't be late. In room twenty two." She left, humming to herself.  
  
He drifted back into his train of thought, and leaned back in his chair. Fred assured him Cordy was doing okay, still under the coma, but vital stats were all good, and they were 'working on it'.  
  
There was a knock at the door.  
  
"Go away, Harmony," he called. The door opened, and Fred's head poked around it.  
  
"Hey," she said uncomfortably. "It's us."  
  
"Us?"  
  
Wesley appeared beside Fred. "Us."  
  
"What's wrong? Has something happened?" Angel asked, instantly alert.  
  
Fred shook her head.  
  
"We're kinda worried, Angel." She exchanged a look with Wesley, and he nodded, a solemn look on his face.  
  
"You've been shut up in here for a while," Wesley added. "We're wondering-"  
  
"I'm not evil, I'm not planning to be evil, and I don't want to kill anyone," Angel interrupted. "I just want to think."  
  
They exchanged a look again.  
  
"Maybe you need to talk?" ventured Fred. She had a worried expression on her face, and her fingers were twisting together. Angel sighed.  
  
"I'm not going to break down, Fred. I just miss her. We all do," he began.He broke off as a small light began bobbing around in the centre of the room. The ex-Watcher stared at it in bemusement.  
  
"What in the world?" he said, frowning.  
  
Angel shoved back his chair, and stood up, staring at it, as a wind whipped up, and the light suddenly flared, bright blue, and formed a wide circle, the wind forming a whirlwind, papers flying off Angel's desk. It was too bright to focus on directly, and they covered their eyes, as two figures moved out of it, and the portal closed behind them.  
  
"Flashy entrance, huh?" said a faintly sarcastic voice. A girl stood there, in her late teens, holding a young child in her arms. The little girl was sound asleep, her fingers crammed in her mouth, leant against the older one's shoulder.  
  
"Uh, miss, the dimension entrance and exits in this building are located-" Wesley began, stepping forward. She shot him a withering look.  
  
"I don't do queues, okay? I have something Angel here wants to know, and I have other things to do with my day. Hanging around to benefit company policy isn't on the list." She looked around the office.  
  
"Is there a chair or something? She's kinda heavy. She was non-corporeal on the way, so I could carry her, but now it feels like my arms are going to fall off." She grinned. "If, y'know, I had 'em."  
  
The Fang Gang looked, confused, at one another.  
  
"I'll take that as a 'Yes, Jory, you can borrow the chair,'" she said, with a roll of her hazel eyes. "Fine."  
  
She laid the sleepy girl down in Angel's leather chair, and straightened up, folding her arms.  
  
"I would do the thing with wings and a halo, but you wouldn't appreciate it," she said lightly.  
  
"You're an angel?" the non-angel Angel asked. She smiled enigmatically.  
  
"Plain Jory, straight and tall. But sometimes. When the need arises. What I am isn't a real big concern right around now. You should be wondering what she is," she said, indicating the little girl.  
  
"So who is she?" Angel countered, folding his arms. Jory gave a laugh.  
  
"There's the million dollar question. Of course, you lost your connection to the Powers that Be, so you didn't get a warning. Figures. They were always bad at admin." She smiled. "She's yours."  
  
"My what?" Angel asked, suspiciously.  
  
"Great. Shove the hard jobs onto Jory day," the girl sighed. "See, way back when, there was a vampire, and he got himself human. And he and his Slayer got pelvic," she raised an eyebrow. "I presume you know this little tale?"  
  
He swallowed, thinking of sunlight, and ice cream, and Buffy. The day he'd been a man.  
  
"Yes," he said reluctantly.  
  
"Well, I suppose you know this world's ending. When the big champion decides to return his humanity, to save the one he loved, big white charger, sunset, ring any bells?" she drawled, rolling her eyes. "Not that I'm allowed to have an opinion. It would have just cut my work in half. Anyhoo, he deletes that day, the sex, the fun, anybody's memory of him eating ice-cream," she sighed. "God I wish I could taste ice cream. And sex. Looks fun. Forget that. Back to you. The catch was, he still remembered. Wonder why?"  
  
"Angel?" Wesley said, tentatively, in disbelief.  
  
"Surprise, big guy," Jory continued. "This world ended that way. But you taking back the day meant your daughter didn't exist. And she has a destiny that would make your hair curl." She looked at his hair. "Well, if it could," she observed.  
  
"A daughter?" he repeated.  
  
"Yup. So this destiny existed, that was all written in stone, pre-PTB. They couldn't do anything about it. So the world split. A different dimension existed, one where you, and Miss Stake-a-lot stayed together. And she got born." Jory glanced over at the little girl, stil out for the count. "Still asleep. Dimensional travel will do that to ya."  
  
She looked straight at Angel. "That's who she is. Big mystery solved."  
  
"My daughter," Angel whispered, a hundred different emotions hitting him at once. His, and Buffy's. He watched the child sleep, her tiny body rise and fall with peaceful breaths. Soft dark baby hair, long lashes lying curled up on her cheeks, little fingers curving around her mouth.  
  
"Yup. She's a little different to the average kiddo, though." Jory shrugged. "You'll find out."  
  
"What do you mean?" Angel whirled around. "What is she?"  
  
"She would have been one of us. A child of different possibilities. Only, her possibility was supposed to happen, not could have happened."  
  
"What are you?" he demanded. She gave him a sad smile.  
  
"It's complicated, but we go by Star children. We watch over the worlds. The PTB got nothin' on us," she grinned. "We don't live, so we can't die. We're separate but we don't do the cryptic, controlling people's lives thing. They do. When you died-"  
  
"Died?" he asked, in shock, surprise. Her eyes widened.  
  
"I thought you had the heads up on that," she commented. "My bad. They warned you, the oracles. Told you, staying human would get you both killed. It did. She stayed alive though. So she got shoved in with us. Non- dimensional. Being non-corporeal bites sometimes," she said, with a grimace. "The Powers decided that being with us, at least, she was where she should be. She doesn't remember much of the Slayer, or you, but she'll recognise you. She knows you're not that Angel, you're a different one."  
  
"We died," he said softly, still gazing at the little girl. Whose eyes did she have, he wondered. Buffy's wide hazel eyes, changeable with her mood, or his own, dark brown?  
  
"Problem was," Jory said, watching him carefully. "She wasn't just one of us. A Star child. She's different. Being corporeal, she's the only one of us," she broke off. "Not dead. Plus, she's got a little bit extra."  
  
"What?" he asked, confused, still stuck on his daughter. His. Real.  
  
"Well, the Destroyer was supposed to be born to a vampire," Jory said, looking at him. "But he wasn't. Again, you played with destiny. In her world, it wasn't so much. She became the Destroyer. She is. Powers and all, down to the cute little tush."  
  
"Connor," Angel met Jory's clear gaze.  
  
She nodded. "That, and she's a Traveller. All of us, Star children, we walk the astral paths. She can too. We do it to work, she kinda-" Jory considered. "She plays. She would have stayed with us, but the world expects her. The PTB, they're trying to alter her space. Settle stuff down. She's disruptive. The death of the Champions in her world-" Jory stopped, and went silent.  
  
"Damn it!" she complained. "I have to go. You need me, she'll reach me. I'll be around." She gathered herself, and a smaller, less flashier portal appeared in mid air.  
  
"Wait!" Angel called. Jory paused, waiting for him to speak.  
  
"What's her name?" he asked, finally. Jory smiled.  
  
"Hero Brynna Angel. She goes by Bryn."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
A/N: The name 'Brynna' or 'Bryn' I took from a challenge at Chocolate Covered Strawberry. Pyro's site, and was written by gidgetgirl. Also, sidenote to Jen, if this gets Hopie-like, let me know. I'm reading, and checking over, and making sure it doesn't infringe.  
  
REVIEW! 


	2. Awake

A/N: I'm an English writer, have seen none of Season Five, and have spoiled myself just this far to write it. I have vague impressions of there being a character named 'Eve' via Jen, but I'm not including her, because I have no handle on her character.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Uh, Angel?" Fred said slowly, secretly wondering if she'd gone mad in the past five minutes, 'cause everyone knew that Angel was a vampire, bar changes through other dimensions of course, and-  
  
"Yeah?" he said, distracted. She was still asleep, her eyelids fluttering in a dream as he watched. He reached out, and his knuckles grazed her silky brown hair, and slid across her cheek, her skin baby smooth and soft.  
  
Wesley coughed discreetly.  
  
"Angel?"  
  
"What?" the vampire turned around.  
  
"I think what they're trying to say, Peaches, is who the hell is that kid, and why is she in your office," Spike drawled from half in Angel's desk, half out.  
  
""You missed the explanation," Wesley removed his glasses. Fred nodded.  
  
"There was an angel."  
  
"Am I missing something, or are you all very stoned?" Spike stared at them.  
  
"Well, you do disappear a lot," Wesley muttered.  
  
"She's my-"Angel looked from face to face. "I was human. For a day. Buffy was- She was there. But I took it back. The Oracles told me that if I remained human," he looked away. "Buffy would die, trying to protect me. I couldn't let that happen."  
  
Spike raised his eyebrows.  
  
"You got your humanity back, and you turned it down?" he said in disbelief. Angel met his eyes.  
  
"She would have died," he said, daring the other vampire to question his reasoning.  
  
Spike thought about it, and the blonde Slayer came to mind. He would -had- died for her.  
  
"So she's what, exactly? Redemption come a-calling for you?" his voice was thick with resentment. His grandsire seemed to get everything, without earning it. Spike's soul had been won, rather than given.  
  
"More than that. She's my daughter," Angel answered, looking back at the little girl. Spike's eyes widened, but he was quiet, comtemplative.  
  
"She's waking up," Wesley observed, as the child stirred. Spike shot him a disparaging look with some of his old vigour.  
  
"Oh very smart. They pay you for that?"  
  
Angel crouched in front of her as she yawned, and blinked. Big hazel eyes focused on his face, and she sat up, rubbing her eyes with tiny balled fists.  
  
"Hi," he said softly. Her little face was deathly solemn.  
  
"Hi."  
  
They'd come to a raging halt. He tried to think of how to start a conversation with his daughter, 'hey, got milk?' didn't seem to be the greatest of openings. What did four year olds talk about, anyway?  
  
"Where's Jory?" she asked.  
  
"She went. Said you knew how to find her," he answered gently. She nodded.  
  
"Uh huh. Are you him?"  
  
"Him who?" he asked, frowning. Spike muttered something across the room. She giggled. He was funny.  
  
"My daddy. Only not, 'cause Jory said you weren't the daddy I had before. He went away," she fiddled with the edge of her dress. "I don't remember him much. I was real little, and small. I'm big now, Jory says. You look like how I remember him, though."  
  
"Yeah," Angel agreed, a little smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.  
  
"Jory said I had to call you 'Angel' 'cause that was your name, not Daddy, but you're really like him," she said, cocking her head on one side, studying him. "Are you sure you're not really really my daddy?"  
  
He was about to shake his head, but she was looking at him, big eyes full of hope, her hands tight on the hem of her dress.  
  
"I guess I am," he said finally, trying and failing to say no to her. She beamed, and threw her arms around his neck.  
  
"I knew Jory was wrong," she whispered. "She's wrong a lot, but don't tell her I said. She gets reeeal mad if I say she's wrong," she confided. She yawned again, and snuggled into his shoulder. He held her awkwardly, but she curled close, and fell back to sleep. He straightened up, carrying her.  
  
"And Peaches wins through again," Spike drawled.  
  
"Can it, Casper," Angel shot, over the top of Bryn's head. "If you don't like it, hey, go haunt someone else."  
  
"You know," Spike answered, with a tight smile. "I think I will."  
  
He flickered out of view.  
  
"So, where are we going to put her?" Fred asked, with a frown.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Jory watched the vampire's friends discuss where Bryn was going to stay. She was going to miss the kid, even if Bryn hadn't made life exactly easy on her.  
  
"Hey Jor, assignment," Reed greeted her, with a grin. She sighed, and nodded.  
  
"Hey, you're not down about her, are you?" he asked, a worried look on his face. "Jory, you knew it was gonna happen. She's been with us for two years and it was only ever temporary."  
  
'I know," Jory nodded, still watching the figures. "Still, I'll miss her. I don't even know if she can reach us anymore."  
  
"She's one of us, even if she is his daughter," Reed said, looking around at the hundreds of figures they could both see. "She'll always be able to come here."  
  
"I guess," the girl agreed reluctantly, and in a moment, they were gone.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
A/N: Next chapter, Bryn has settled into the Hyperion, and with the Fang Gang. Less of the little cutie, and more of the hellion she actually is!  
  
REVIEW!!! 


	3. Not so angelic

A/N: It has been a while, and it will be a while, because I've hit the exam module part of the school year. Life sucks and everything. Anyhoo, if you're bored, and you like Hero, check out Replay, my Charmed fic, with mini-Prue, and Don't Tell Mom, my Buffy fic, with a pint sized Slayer and a naughty little boy.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Bryn," Angel called. Over the past week, he'd spent more time at the Hyperion than he had since they'd first owned Wolfram and Hart. The little girl who now always called him 'Daddy' had taken to the old hotel quickly, and insisted on staying there.  
  
"Bryn," he called again, patiently. There was a giggle from behind him. His lips quirked in a smile.  
  
"Bryn, we've got to leave," he tried, hoping the child would give in.  
  
"Nope. Don't want to go. Play hide and go seek, Daddy," she demanded. He turned around quickly, and noticed her dodge behind the weapons cabinet, but pretended he hadn't noticed.  
  
"Sorry, Bryn. We can't. We need to go to Wolfram and Hart."  
  
Bryn blew a raspberry at Daddy, from her hiding place. Wolfram and Hart was boring. Jory never talked to her there, and Daddy always went off and did stuff without her. She didn't mind being by herself, but whenever she tried to do fun things, the blonde lady made it all stupid. If Spike was there though, he would play with her, but Daddy always got all grr-y when Spike played with her.  
  
"Bryn, that isn't nice," Angel said, knowing the words were weak as they came out of his mouth.  
  
"Who says?" she challenged, peeking around the weapons cabinet. Daddy always got her hiding places in the end, so she had to be real careful.  
  
"I say," he answered. "Brynna, come on out now." Oops. When Bryn got called Brynna, Daddy was real close to getting mad. When she got called 'Hero', she was in big trouble.  
  
"Okay, okay," she sighed, rolling her eyes in a very Spike-like way as she stepped out from behind the cabinet. Angel gritted his teeth at the eye thing. She spent way too much time with Casper.  
  
He couldn't help but smile at his daughter. He grinned almost dopily at how many times a day he said, or thought the words 'my daughter'. Bryn's chestnut brown hair was mussed from her hide-and go-seek game and there was a streak of dirt on her left cheek. Her hazel eyes were fixed on his in a stubborn expression, and she folded her arms across her tee-shirt, preparing to put up a protest.  
  
"No arguments," he told her. She sighed again loudly, and sat down on the couch in the lobby, looking dejected.  
  
"Where are your sneakers?" he asked, looking around. Bryn swung her legs out in front of her, admiring her socks. Red was her very favouritest color. She noticed the sneakers peeping out from underneath the couch, and kicked them back under.  
  
"Why don't you want to stay home and play with me?" she asked, her lower lip jutting out.  
  
Angel glanced back at her, and continued to search for the shoes.  
  
"I do, Bryn. But I have to work as well."  
  
"Fine," she grouched.  
  
"That's no way for Miss Bryn to talk," he said playfully. She shook her head, her arms still tightly folded. He stood up, and crept up behind her. Her head whipped around as he pounced, tickling her to screams of laughter. She jumped off the couch, and raced into his office, ducking behind a chair as he chased her. He caught her around the waist as she skidded across the lobby floor, her feet shooting out from under her.  
  
"Ah! I see a sneaker," he snatched the little shoe out from beneath the couch, where it sat forlornly on its own, and grabbed Bryn's foot.  
  
"No, Daddy," she protested. He nodded.  
  
"Yes Daddy. Or the tickle monster will get you," he promised. Bryn cocked her head on one side, then gave him a disdainful look.  
  
"There's no such thing as a tickle monster. Jory says," she stated. "You're being silly, Daddy."  
  
"Yup," Angel agreed, with a grin. "I am. C'mon, let's get out of here." He helped her into her jacket, and tied her sneaker laces. Bryn sighed, but gave up for the timing being. Maybe Spike would play with her today.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Hello Harmony," Angel said, sinking into his desk chair. The blonde vampire smiled.  
  
"Heya Brynnie, how are you tonight?" she cooed, bending down to Bryn's height. Bryn raised one eyebrow in a perfect Lilah imitation, and folded her arms.  
  
"You have lipstick on your teeth," she said conversationally. Harmony stood up, and started rubbing at her teeth frantically trying to remove the make- up.  
  
"Okay, I need the files on these scrolls, the information run on these clients," Angel looked up from piling up manila folders on his desk, and stared at his secretary. "What are you doing, Harmony?"  
  
"Bryn said I had lipstick on my teeth, and make-up on fangs looks really icky," Harmony complained, still scrubbing at her teeth. Angel looked at his daughter, who was creased up in laughter. How Bryn had managed to work out what sent Harmony up the wall in two days, he'd never find out, but somehow, she'd figured how to push the dim vampire's buttons.  
  
"Harmony," he said patiently, "There is no lipstick on your teeth." Harmony looked confused.  
  
"But Bryn said there was," she said, a little lost. She turned to look at the little girl, who assumed an innocent expression, and shrugged.  
  
"I thought I saw some," Bryn replied, wide-eyed.  
  
"Yeah, right," Spike said, materalising by the door. Harmony gave a squeak.  
  
"I seriously wish you wouldn't keep doing that," she huffed a sigh of annoyance. Spike flashed her a wicked little grin.  
  
"Oh, because a ghost really scares a vampire to death right?" he drawled.  
  
"Angel!" Harmony looked to the elder vampire for rescue.  
  
"Children," he said, without raising his head from the notes he was reading through. "Spike, stop winding her up. Bryn's already done that today."  
  
"Hey! Score one for the blood-pack," Spike looked at Bryn with approval. She grinned, pleased with herself.  
  
"Are you gonna play with me?" she demanded.  
  
As the four year old and one hundred and twenty four year old left together, Harmony looked towards Angel, a look of concern flitting across her normally vapid face.  
  
"Angel?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"Have you reached Buffy yet?" she asked. He glanced up, still in the realms of the files.  
  
"She's in Paris, Harmony. You know that. I've tried to contact her, she'll get here when she can," he answered. Sighing, the blonde vampire closed the door, leaving Angel and his work, in peace, while havoc, in the form of his daughter, was unleashed on the firm.  
  
* ~ * ~  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~  
  
A/N: Yup, Hero is naughty. Buffy and the Scoobies should make an appearance soon. Jory appears next chapter, and Bryn's connection to the astral paths becomes a little clearer.  
  
REVIEW!!!!! 


	4. Portraits

A/N: Yup, the Bryn is back. Note to Jen, I've tried to be more visual. More notes at the end.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Hero Brynna Angel was doing some serious thinking. Daddy was all busy in his office, and the blonde lady was doing her nails in bright red at her desk, leaving Bryn all alone to go play.  
  
She considered the possibilities of action, her little pink tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth in concentration, as she finished her picture of the dark lady Spike was always talking to. Spike wasn't around, and Lindsey, who would've played with her was in the big room, and the door was firmly locked.  
  
She pushed the piece of drying construction paper across the desk, and picked up the next piece. It was pink. Bryn didn't like pink. It had a weird pink-y ness to it, like Barbies, and strawberry medicine, that didn't taste of strawberries at all. Bored of painting, she swung her legs, and looked around.  
  
Lilah's office was just the way Lilah liked it. Clean white walls, a marble topped desk, with a black leather desk chairs, and two butter coloured suede armchairs in front of the desk. She had no photos, or paintings on her walls. There was a nice, chunky, silvery paperweight, in the shape of a ball on top of some pieces of paper. Bryn picked it up, and felt it. It was nice and round. She dropped it, experimentally. It made a nice 'clunkety' sound. She liked it.  
  
Bryn considered the wall, with her head cocked to one side, her messy braid falling over her shoulder, her forehead crinkled in concentration, still 'clunkety-ing' the paperweight. The big wall was very plain, and boring. It seemed to be calling her name, 'Bryn, come paint me'. Its white-ness glowed boringly at her.  
  
"Okay wall," she told it seriously, nodding. "I'll paint you, but if I get into trouble, it's all your fault." The wall didn't answer, so Bryn got right down to painting it.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Spike had never told Angel that when he disappeared, not every time did he slip closer to hell. Sometimes, he came here. To the astral planes. Someone else's soul was still in limbo, waiting around, and if Angel knew of her, he would risk everything to get to her. There was nothing the other vampire could do, however, to help the beautiful ex-Seer, whose spirit resided on this plane. She was out of reach for as long as her body remained sleeping, and Cordelia, still queen of sarcasm, often took out her anger, pain, and sarcastic days on his own poor, unfortunate souled butt.  
  
"Oh, I can just see the expression on that stuck up, two-bit, trailer-trash- that-calls-herself-a-lawyer's face," Cordy said, smirking a little, her brown eyes sparkling. "I can just see her appreciating the artistry." She gazed in satisfaction at Bryn's large painting, using every inch of wall space in bright, messy colours.  
  
"Oh yeah," Spike agreed solemnly, his face grave as he turned to her, his blue eyes belying his seriousness. "Lilah is a connoisseur of the modern art of a four year old."  
  
"Someone really should stop her," Cordelia gave a little sigh, as if stopping Bryn finger-paint over five thousand dollars worth of interior decoration wasn't big on her personal priority list.  
  
"Yeah," he agreed, watching happily as Bryn painted a sloppy green circle, gave it two yellow arms, big blue dots for eyes, then as a finishing touch, added liberal amounts of red around the mouth. Her hair was spattered with paint in primary colours, and her denim overalls were covered in it.  
  
"Damn it! I should be down there!" Cordelia exploded in frustration, her fists balling as she punched him in the arm. "I should be helping him with her. She'll have him wrapped around her little finger, and he won't think she'll say boo to a goose soon, and then along will come little Miss Pointy- Weapons, and he'll have everything he wants and forget me," she finished, her voice quivering as it lowered in volume. She sighed, blinking furiously to stop herself starting to cry. Cordelia, Queen of Sunnydale High did not cry. "Why won't my goddamn body wake up?"  
  
"At least you have one, love," Spike said, with a half smile, a wistful look in his eyes.  
  
"Oh c'mon off it, Deadboy Junior. You're pleased as hell that as soon as you get your body, you'll be all souled and happy, and able to have sex like bunnies with the Slayer, and Angel won't," she shot back. He smirked, with some of his bravado back.  
  
"Yeah, s'true," he admitted. "Still, not much 'sex like bunnies' you can have on an astral plane." Cordelia cocked her head to one side, giving him an appraising look, her brown eyes sweeping over him.  
  
"You've never said exactly why you're stuck here. We know I'm here because when I stopped being all big and glowy," she grimaced, "I somehow had sex with my almost-son, and gave birth to the end of the world, and I'm in a coma, but you, you going all kaboom, shiny new soul, and then floating around here," she put her hands on her hips, and looked at Spike inquiringly. "Why?"  
  
"Buffy gave me a nice shiny rock to wear when I saved the world," Spike drawled wryly, folding his arms across his duster. He'd discovered with a little bit of surprised happiness, and a lot of 'why?' that his duster still existed for him . "Nice shiny rock stole my nice shiny soul. So I'm in an amulet, until Fred works out how to give me a body."  
  
"So you're kinda like a genie," Cordelia mused out loud. She grinned at him. "Ooh, if someone rubs the amulet, do you pop up, and go 'your wish is my command?'"  
  
Spike gave her a withering look.  
  
"No," he retorted. She folded her arms, and gave him a smug smile.  
  
"Spike! Spi-ike? Where are you?" Bryn's voice echoed through the mists of this part of the plane. He looked at Cordelia, concerned. She waved a dismissive hand.  
  
'Go! Do the Casper the friendly ghost thing," she drawled, with a Queen C smile. "Never let it be said I kept the Big Bad from oh so tempting little kids to play with." She raised a finely plucked eyebrow at him. "How exactly do you explain that a four year old turns a big scary vampire into a puddle of squishy mush?"  
  
"Shut up," he ordered teasingly, before his shape shimmered out of the astral plane. Cordelia sighed, and drummed her nails against her thigh. It was almost as boring as higher-being duty, here.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Buffy?" Willow touched the Slayer's shoulder lightly, a worried expression in her green eyes. Buffy looked up, startled out of her reverie, her eyes questioning.  
  
"We're nearly there," Willow explained, awkwardly.  
  
"L.A. Can I ask why exactly we're here?" Xander drawled sarcastically from behind them, leaning against the window.  
  
"Angel called. He said he had news," Buffy said uncomfortably, shifting in her seat.  
  
"And he does know phones work that way, right?" Xander asked, with a little grin, at getting in a shot at Angel. Dawn leaned over from behind Willow, her long brown hair falling in front of Willow's face.  
  
"He is kinda right," she said conversationally. "What's so big it requires moving? Plus, plane food. Uber gross." She sat back in her seat, and threw her bread roll at Xander. He caught it.  
  
"Indeed," Xander nodded in agreement with the teenager. "And 3D movie, not the most thrilling of in-flight entertainment for the one eyed among us."  
  
Dawn folded her arms across her chest, her eyebrows raising as she fixed her blue eyes on him sternly. "Hey, I gave you a juice box. My juice box, might I add? Buffy, when are you gonna stop packing stuff for me on journeys like I was five?"  
  
"It means we always have supplies for Xander," Willow shrugged, her eyes dancing with amusement as she looked over at her best friend. Xander pretended to pout.  
  
"Hey, are you okay, Buff?" Xander asked, catching the serious and worried expression on the Slayer's face. She tucked a piece of golden-blonde hair behind her ear nervously, before replying.  
  
"I don't know. It's kinda bugging me that he didn't tell me what was up." She looked from face to face, and finally shook her head, trying to ease everyone else's worries. "It's probably nothing. Angel over-reacting. I guess we'll find out when we get there."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
A/N: So, repercussions of the wall painting still to come.  
  
For more kid fic, go read gidgetgirl's, the Hopie Chronicles, that inspired Hero, which stars a little girl with a big destiny, butt-kicks vamps easily, and has the entire Fang Gang wrapped around her little finger. Hopie is incredibly funny, and very popular.  
  
Another of Jen's fics (gidgetgirl) is Throwback, with equally naughty kiddos. Faith and Angel mistakenly get turned into four year olds and chaos ensues.  
  
Finally, my favourite of all Jen's fics is Small Packages, with a whole host of different kiddos, with special powers, starring Faith's daughter Kaya, and her own special purpose.  
  
But before that, go REVIEW!! 


	5. Time Out

A/N:  
  
Also, side-note. I HAVE NOT SEEN season five. I saw the end of four, Lilah featured even after she was dead-ed, so I thought she was in five. She is in my world, which explains the office-thing.  
  
"Hero Brynna Angel!'  
  
Startled, Bryn awoke, and blinked a couple of times, before crawling out from underneath Lilah's polished desk, a guilty expression in her big brown eyes, as she knuckled the sleepy dust out from under them. Wesley stared from the vividly painted wall, with its cheerful picture of a big square, and lots of little blobs - Wesley had never had to learn how to read children's paintings - to the little girl, whose messy hair, and denim overalls were spattered with the same primary coloured paint. Bryn thought hard.  
  
"The wall did it," she suggested, yawning delicately, her little lips pursing with disapproval at the pesky wall. The wall no longer gleamed impatiently at her. It gave her a sad, and accusing look, from underneath the paint dribbles.  
  
"I don't think that quite cuts it, Brynna," Wesley stated firmly, his eyebrows raising. Bryn clambered to her feet, figuring that at three foot, she stood a better chance of arguing if she was her full three foot, rather than one and a half that she was sitting on the floor. As she stood up, she looked down. On the soft blue carpet, there were now two Bryn-sized swirly- coloured footmarks. Uh oh.  
  
She raised her eyes slowly from the floor to Wesley's face. If it was Gunn, she could grin, and he'd 'splain it away to Daddy, and tell her she was a mini-Lana. Bryn didn't know what a mini-Lana was, but it got her out of trouble, and it sounded a bit like an airplane, or maybe a banana. She liked bananas. They were smooshy if you stamped on them. Daddy got mad when she did that.  
  
But it wasn't the Gunn-man. It was Wesley, whose eyes could go as 'grr-y' as Daddy's, when he was mad at her. Fred could yell, but didn't a lot. Lorne didn't care, he just told her she was an 'itty bitty slice of sugar sweet Angel pie'. The blonde lady, who Daddy also yelled at a lot, just laughed most of the time. Wesley and Daddy got mean.  
  
"It told me to," she said, her lower lip jutting out, as she looked up at him under her eyelashes, her big hazel eyes pleading. Wesley didn't answer. She scuffed the side of her sneaker along the carpet.  
  
"Brynna," he said again, his voice slow as he considered things over. Brynna. He wasn't as mad mad as he had been, if he called her Brynna. Brynna was really really close to Bryn, and really really far away from 'Hero Brynna Angel'.  
  
He sighed. "I'm tempted to turn you over my knee." He gave her his best 'disapproving' looks. He looked to see if it had worked. Bryn frowned.  
  
"What's putting over my knee?" she asked, puzzled, her nose wrinkling. Wesley resisted a smile. God damn it, he was resisting!  
  
"I would spank your little bottom," he said firmly. Bryn shook her head.  
  
"Daddy wouldn't let you," she answered back, confidently. Wesley thought about it a moment. The child was right. Angel, having fallen for his little girl, now visibly tightened if anyone came near her.  
  
He was saved from answering by the timely appearance of Angel himself.  
  
"There you are, Wes. I need you to go over the-" Angel broke off, frowning. "What are you doing here?"  
  
Wordlessly, Wesley pushed the door further open, so Angel could see the splashy, messy painting Bryn had done all along Lilah's pristine white walls. Angel's eyes widened, and he stepped forward. Bryn shot an accusing glare at Wesley.  
  
"Tattle tale!" she hissed, folding her arms across her chest, with a matching disapproving look to his own.  
  
"It's us," Angel said, in surprise, examining the wall. He looked back at Bryn, and felt a grin break out on his face. "See, Wes, there's the hotel, and there's you, and Lorne, and me, and Fred, and Gunn, and Bryn-" Wesley stared at him in disbelief.  
  
"You don't mean you're going to let her get away with it?' Wesley demanded, glancing at Bryn. Bryn's own eyes widened. If Daddy wasn't going to punish her, Wesley shouldn't make him!  
  
"But it's so pretty," Angel said weakly, the goofy smile still lingering on his lips. He sighed, his shoulders slumping. "I'm going to have to punish her, aren't I?"  
  
"Darn right you do!" Cordelia yelled in exasperation at him, from her plane. Spike chuckled.  
  
"It is a sweet picture, Cordelia," he reasoned, looking from the little girl to the wall painting. "Ow!" he exclaimed, nursing his upper arm where she'd just swatted him. The ex-cheerleader gave him a haughty look.  
  
"If he doesn't tell her off now, she'll walk all over him. She's a kid, she needs ground rules," Cordy explained, with a grudging expression. "Now shut it, so I can find out what he does. Boy, does he need help."  
  
Angel sighed again. A little niggling voice in his ear told him that Bryn had to be punished this time. Last time, she'd broken into the weapons chest, and used Harmony for target practise with the crossbow. He'd come back from a meeting to find his secretary running around the room, screaming, pursued by his own mini-Destroyer, watched by a non-corporeal vampire laughing himself sick. The time before that, she'd built herself a den in the white room. Quite how she'd gotten in, they didn't know.  
  
"Bryn," he began. He heard his faint, pleading voice, and pulled himself up. He was the Scourge of Europe, and a far badder-ass than Spike had ever been. He, Angel had been one before he'd been a vampire. He was not going to become a doormat for his four-year-old child. He tried again.  
  
"Brynna. Don't tell me you don't know it isn't allowed to paint on walls," he said, firmly. This was better. He was almost on a roll. "I've told you, and Wes has told you to stay out of the offices."  
  
"Yeah," Bryn admitted, fixing her eyes on the floor, fiddling with the strap of her overalls.  
  
"You know what this means, Bryn," he said, trying to meet her eyes with his own, in a meaningful look. She glared defiantly at him. "I'm putting you in a time-out. In my office. Now."  
  
With a great huff, Bryn stalked out, her sneakers squishing on the floor as she went down the corridor to his office.  
  
"Was I okay?" Angel looked towards Wesley, a worried expression on his face, as he did so. Wesley patted his arm reassuringly.  
  
"I suggest you get an interior decorator in here, before Lilah decides that your punishment is insufficient."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
* ~  
  
Bryn kicked the table leg. It didn't do anything. She kicked it harder. The table leg buckled under the table, and a whole bunch of old manuscripts slid to the floor.  
  
"Don't care," Bryn told herself firmly. "Daddy's mean. Daddy's lots mean."  
  
She wasn't going to stay here, in a boring time-out. Time-out was for babies, not for Bryns. With an impish expression crossing her face, Bryn curled up next to a filing cabinet, and closed her eyes, opening the teeny door in her mind that opened up onto the astral field.  
  
Stars blew towards her, her hair flew back in the wind, Bryn's hazel eyes opened, and a thousand tiny lights reflected in her eyes as she rushed forwards, along the paths. Bryn's smile was ages old as she crossed the planes, her Star Child soul moving a hundred times the speed of a mortal.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Wow," Buffy muttered in disbelief as they stepped over the threshold, into the lobby of the huge glass building. "It's big." She looked towards Willow, one eyebrow raised in a questioning expression.  
  
"Yup," Willow agreed in a cheerful voice, her eyes filled with worry. "It's big."  
  
"Where's Dead Boy then?" Xander mumbled, staring in suspicion at a yellow, and very spiny guard, who was giving him an equally suspicious look. "Some of his employees don't seem to be very- non evil."  
  
"That's good," Dawn nodded, considering it. "Equal opportunities. Guess there aren't many jobs open to the multi-coloured and squishy." She shot Buffy a little grin.  
  
"Can I help you?" a woman, in her early thirties, with shoulder length auburn hair and sharp green eyes stopped in front of them, her tone clipped, and cool.  
  
"Uh, I guess so," Buffy shrugged her shoulders, looking from Willow to Xander uncertainly. "We're here to see Angel."  
  
The lawyer-y type placed her hands together, and smiled tightly. "Angel. Do you have an appointment?"  
  
Buffy's face creased in puzzlement. "Uh, no, he just told us to come-" she began, her eyes widening meaningfully at Willow. The redhead shrugged.  
  
"In that case, you'll need to see his secretary," the woman said, her smile getting a little bit stranger. "I'll just get someone who can take you up."  
  
She hurried away, her smart and classy black heels clacking on the polished floor. She huddled in with another suited lawyer, and then a younger man joined them, dressed in a more casual jacket and tie. They glanced back every so often at the group.  
  
"Wow. Get the feeling we're a little unprecedented?" Willow offered weakly, her green eyes wide. Buffy nodded thoughtfully.  
  
The casually dressed man, his dark brown hair flopping in his eyes walked towards them.  
  
"Good afternoon," he began, with a polite smile, 'And welcome to the L.A branch of Wolfram and Hart. This division is headed by Angel, the only vampire in existence with a soul. I am to conduct you to the office of his secretary, right this way please." He turned around, and stepped forward briskly.  
  
Buffy raised her eyebrows at the gang, but silently, they followed the lackey up a flight of stairs, and along corridors, to Angel's mysterious secretary.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ A/N: And that's enough for one chapter. Next time, Buffy and co finally meet Bryn, and a leetle bit of a familiar surprise in the form of Harmony . 


	6. Meeting Mommy

A/N: Okay, I've got block on this, several stories on the go, and a reviewless story (Replay) which is actually the start of a series story, plus the sequel to Izzy, however, for all you faithful Bryn reviewers, here's another chapter.  
  
Buffy finally meets her little girl.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
'Harmony?' Buffy stated, incredulously, her eyes wide. The blonde vampire looked up from her desk, a scowly pout crossing her dim face.  
  
"You can't kill me, you know. I have contractual obligations, and a health plan," she said proudly, and defiantly, then her tone weakened. "Please don't stake me," she begged. Buffy stared, disbelieving.  
  
"Harmony?" she repeated, her brain feeling kinda dizzy. Harmony worked for Angel? Scratch that, Harmony was Angel's secretary? The gang stopped in the doorway, all eyes focused on Harmony, a little dazed.  
  
"Do you want to see Angel?' Harmony shuffled some papers together on the desk, and stood up, her smart outfit detracted a little by the tiny length of the skirt that went with it.  
  
"Yeah," Buffy agreed, after a pause. Harmony nodded, self importantly.  
  
"Okay. I'll go get him. Bryn should be around somewhere, too," she called, as she left the office.  
  
Buffy wrinkled her nose in puzzlement. Bryn?  
  
"I guess another P.A?" Willow offered, a puzzled expression on her face. Buffy nodded slowly, thinking. She was gonna see Angel. It was funny, throughout her stay in Paris, and Rome, and Geneva, where she'd been surrounded by people, and cultures that she'd never been able to experience, her thoughts flashed back to the two people in her life that she'd never forget. Spike and.  
  
"Buffy," Angel said quietly, as he stepped into Harmony's office, soundlessly. He looked at the gang. "Hello Willow, Xander, Dawn." His eyes were filled with something strange, Buffy realised with a jolt that for once, she couldn't read her ex-lover's thoughts.  
  
"Hi Angel," Dawn replied, cheerful as usual. "We went to Paris. And saw Disneyland. With Goofy. It was very cool." She looked for confirmation at Xander, who nodded.  
  
"Very. Plethora of Disney characters. We were privileged."  
  
"Hi," Willow gave the vampire a tiny wave, accompanied by a nervous grin. "How are you?"  
  
Angel's demeanor relaxed a little, his shoulders sinking. He almost smiled.  
  
"I'm good."  
  
"Angel," Buffy said, her tone anxious, impatient. He looked over at her, the same golden blonde hair cropped short, big hazel eyes that were now familiar, filled with mischief over the top of a bowl of cereal in the morning, sleepy and half closed as he tucked the possessor into bed at night. His stomach felt like a large, cold hand was squeezing it incessantly.  
  
"Angel,' she repeated, more nervously, tucking strands of hair behind her ears. "What was so important?"  
  
Three faces gazed at him, equally puzzled, and interested. Angel swallowed, trying to think how to say it. He'd had Bryn for near two months now. Buffy, finding out she had a daughter after he had- he remembered the Slayer angry when decisions had been made for her in the past. He didn't relish this prospect.  
  
"That would be Bryn," he answered, with a small, private smile at the picture of the little girl springing to mind, probably curled up asleep, and in a fierce temper at being put in a hated time-out.  
  
Blank looks met him.  
  
"Bryn is our daughter," he explained, gently, looking at Buffy.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Jory!" The planes were filled with light, the Star children's souls moved around, following different tracks to worlds, dimensions, hundreds of different colors. Bryn stood in the centre of her path, the bright gold trail from her entrance leading to this place, the Place Between. Here was no real world, only the place of the Star children. Here they rested, gathered, and was the respite from the constant travelling. A Star child never stayed long, but it was the only place they could escape to.  
  
"Jory!" Bryn yelled again, impatient. If Daddy wouldn't play with her, then Jory would. A light bobbed, and blew towards her, materialising into a form Bryn knew well. The tall non-angel, long brown hair flying around her tired face broke into a smile at the little girl. She hugged her, Bryn's touch making her briefly corporeal.  
  
"Heya shortie," she greeted happily. "What are you doing up here?"  
  
Bryn shuffled her feet a little, trying to decide what to say. Jory got mad if Bryn was naughty.  
  
"Nothing," she said evasively. Jory frowned.  
  
"Hero,' she stated, a warning note in her voice. Her blue eyes were bright, shining the same color as her soul did on the planes. She narrowed them at Bryn.  
  
"Okay, okay. Daddy got mad cuz I painted a wall," Bryn mumbled, glaring at the ground. Jory knelt beside the child, looking into Bryn's eyes.  
  
"Sweetie, you can't come up here every time you get in trouble," she said firmly. "You're a person now. You have to learn to be Hero Brynna Angel again, and you can't do that up here."  
  
Bryn gazed pleadingly at the older Star child. "Can't you play with me a little bit?' she whispered, clinging to Jory's hand. Before the older girl could answer, another light bobbed forward, a topaz color, and another form appeared. A smaller girl, about seven or eight materialised beside Jory, her own eyes the same color as her light. Golden blond hair curled around her heart-shaped face.  
  
"Jory, we've got to go," she said impatiently. Jory looked at the newcomer.  
  
"I know, Con, just let me say goodbye to Bryn." Rudely, Con dissipated into light once more, and shot away.  
  
"I'm sorry, Bryn. I've got to work. It's no longer part of my assignment to look after you," she said quietly to the little girl. Bryn's lip quivered, her hazel eyes filled with tears.  
  
"Who's she?" she whispered, not looking up at Jory. Jory sighed, all the resentment at being forced to continue going, at everyone's time coming, at the newcomer rose up in it.  
  
"She's my new partner," she explained softly, hating the way it would hurt the child. "Everyone is a pair, Bryn."  
  
Bryn nodded, her brown head bowed, as she sniffed, then swiped her hand past her nose. Jory felt the same tugging sensation pull at her, call on her soul. Demanding that she hurry.  
  
"Bye," Jory said awkwardly, before turning, and shimmering into light, and following Con.  
  
Bryn sniffed again, biting her lip. Jory didn't want her any more. She wasn't s'posed to be here any more. All she had was a Daddy who played work all day, and a building full of lawyers. No one wanted a Bryn. Maybe she'd just go home.  
  
She closed her eyes, and as she opened them again, the room around her appeared solidly. Four people bent over her, worried looks on their faces, and Daddy was one of them. Bryn sighed. He looked mad. Again.  
  
"So this is Bryn?" Buffy asked, gazing at the child, trying to stop the painful throb of her heart. Of course this was Bryn, the little girl's face was the same shape as hers, the same hazel eyes set into Bryn's face, but the same broody look that showed on Angel's face often enough echoed in Bryn's. Angel's dark hair fell around the child's shoulders.  
  
"Hero Brynna Angel, what were you doing?' Angel asked, sternly. Bryn shrugged, suddenly feeling very much like taking a nap. She felt itchy whenever she'd been There, like this wasn't right. The world itched her, and she couldn't reach to scratch. It itched like chicken pox, and woolly sweaters.  
  
"I went," she said quietly. Angel watched his daughter, bewilderment filling him. She always seemed different when she'd been.. away. As if she'd seen things that made her an adult, things he would never understand, in his entire immortal life.  
  
"Bryn," Angel chose his words carefully. He looked at Buffy, anticipation, hope, fear, and impatience filled her eyes. He could hear her heart beating, faster than ever.  
  
"Yeah?' the child answered belligerently, folding her arms across her paint stained overalls defiantly. Buffy knelt, and reached out tentatively to tuck a fly away piece of soft baby hair behind Bryn's ear. Bryn stiffened unconsciously. Buffy froze.  
  
Bryn could smell the lady, vanilla like ice cream, and another smell, like cookies, and the feeling Bryn got when she tried to 'member past being There, and back, to the first time she had a daddy, when she was real. She didn't like it. Bryn scowled to herself. She didn't want to be here, yelled at by Daddy. She wanted to be free, to explore, and play hide and go seek with Jory. Jory. She wanted Jory.  
  
"Bryn, honey, this is your mother. Buffy." Angel reached out to touch Bryn, but her eyes widened as she stared at Buffy, frozen in shock. His fingers brushed her shoulder, and she jerked violently.  
  
"No," she stated. Angel reached out, for her, but the little girl moved away.  
  
"No!'" the child shrieked. "Go away! I don't want you! Go away! I want Jory, make Jory come back. Go away!'  
  
She ran out of the office, fleeing down the corridor. Buffy met Angel's eyes.  
  
"That went well," she said softly.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
A/N: An angsty chapter I don't think any of you predicted. Next chapter, Buffy and the gang move into the hotel while Bryn comes to grips with reality, a familiar face re-appears, Spike shenanigans, and the enemy rises.  
  
Oh, any Con haters/Jory lovers, don't worry. Things shall happen. I promise.  
  
REVIEW!!!! 


	7. Plots

A/N: Have decided (on advice from gidgetgirl) that I ought to finish this. Which means uber updates. Cool for you, itchy brain for me.  
  
Plus, it's late, I'm tired- kudos to gidget for the reasoning behind Bryn's outbursts.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Look, you're gonna have to go to him." Cordelia made shooing motions. Spike raised his eyebrows at the dark haired ex-Seer. His expression made it plain that talking to his grandsire was not on his 'popular things to make or do' list.  
  
"Why am I going to do that, beautiful?" he drawled, his blue eyes scanning her. Cordelia folded her arms defensively.  
  
"Hey, pay attention here, ghostie. I know I'm stunning and all, but you've got stuff to do, don't you? That kiddo relies on you and Angel can't see what's happening." Cordy rolled her eyes. "Buffy walks in, and it's an end to, 'Cordelia, I can't un-live without you, let me stay by your bedside and hold your hand until you wake up', and hello angsty pain. She's like a magnet. A big, angsty, pain-magnet."  
  
Spike frowned. "So you want me to tell Angel to look after his kid because- ?"  
  
"Pfft. Just do it because I said so," Cordelia ordered, folding her arms. Spike sighed, wondering if evil-posession qualified Cordelia as evil herself. She was certainly acting like a goddess that ate people.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Buffy, I tried to contact you," Angel was in the middle of saying, as the blonde vampire half materialised in his office. He blinked. "Spike?"  
  
"Spike?" Buffy's eyebrows shot skyward, as she gave Angel a questioning look.  
  
"Now we all know my name," Spike drawled. "Angel. Your daughter is hiding in Harmony's office. Under the desk. Go talk to her." He rolled his eyes at the ceiling, with a little jerk of his head. "Am I done now?" he addressed it.  
  
Buffy frowned. "Is he still insane?' she whispered to Angel. Angel shook his head, although currently, the jury was out on that one.  
  
The blond vampire disappeared, leaving the uncomfortable silence to the two others. Buffy folded her arms.  
  
"Does he do that often?' she asked, conversationally. Angel nodded.  
  
"I really have to-" he looked uncomfortable. She nodded.  
  
"Go."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ` * ` * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ ~ *  
  
"Bryn?" Angel bent down, and looked under the bed. "What are you doing down there?" Bryn was curled up, her back to him, her knees hugged to her chest.  
  
"Thinking."  
  
Angel's lips twitched into a soft half smile. His Bryn could plot, and plan like any other evil mastermind, but brooding was something she rarely did. He sat down beside the desk, his legs crossed. He picked up a piece of paper, crayoned in pink and yellow. And red. It was lying on the carpet, with Brynna's distinctive 'people circles' drawn in her wobbly hand.  
  
"What about?' he asked, keeping his voice light, and cheerful. Bryn wriggled a bit under the desk.  
  
"Stuff," she answered resolutely, stubborn as always. "Where's my Jory?"  
  
He softened once more. Darn it, he never wanted to punish his little girl, and now she was hurting, and lost, and feeling lonely, and he wished he could just smooth out all the wrinkles in the world, and make it better for her.  
  
"I don't know, Bryn," he said quietly. "Do you?" Odd though it seemed, a lot of the time, Bryn seemed to ask questions she already knew the answer to. Where the non-angel Jory was was something only the four year old would know.  
  
Bryn squirmed around a bit, until she was facing him, her eyes filled with something Angel couldn't understand. The look in them was the same one she had when she went- When she was away.  
  
"She doesn't want me,' she whispered to herself. "I forgot." She looked away again.  
  
"Why didn't you want to see your Mommy, Bryn?" Angel asked, picking up the picture once more. He inspected it, drumming his fingers on the side of the desk. "This is pretty."  
  
"No it isn't," the child mumbled, her eyes wide with fear. "It's dark, and damp, and blood, there's blood. And Jory came. Daddy, don't let it get her."  
  
"I won't," Angel promised, scooping out his little girl from underneath the desk, and sitting her on his lap, stroking back feather soft hair from her forehead. "I won't let it get her." Bryn leant back, resting her head against his shoulder, slipping her thumb into her mouth, her left hand curling around his own thumb, and sighed, sleepily.  
  
"It hurts, Daddy."  
  
There was a brief shimmer of light in the office, that Angel had come to associate with either Bryn's guardian, or Spike. Neither of which boded particularly well. This time, the familiar form of a teenage girl appeared, her hair falling into her eyes. She gave it a tired swipe, and finally stopped, her image more fuzzy than normal.  
  
"I don't have long," she stated, unnecessarily. She never appeared long, only long enough to tell him he was doing something wrong. How a dead teenager knew more about his kid than he did, Angel was still a little uncertain on.  
  
She sighed, her face tired. "Big emotional pain here. Kinda like a doorbell There. I came, I saw, I helped, I got gone. Paraphrasing Caesar, you know I'm tired."  
  
Angel stroked Bryn's hair, watching Jory. He'd found it helpful to stay silent around the non-angel, or she went off on tangents.  
  
"You want to know why the family reunion didn't go so well, yes?" Jory asked, looking down at Bryn with almost hunger in her eyes. She shrugged sadly. "It's not quite so fun when the kid was two. You recall I told you you died in her world."  
  
"Yes," Angel answered slowly. "That came up."  
  
"Surprise, the tale doesn't just contain woe, horror, and all the other pre- watershed family stake sessions. I'll spell it out, haven't got the time to be cryptic. Bryn saw her die." Jory's tone was flat, expressionless. "Vampire. Pool of blood. The kid watched her mother tortured, and killed. About four months after, you died. None of the old pizzazz without the Slayer left. So now you know. 'Til she's over that, you're going to get nowhere with the Slayer equals Mommy kick. Bryn was able to comprehend you weren't That Daddy, you were new. But Buffy's memory, her essence, everything a kid remembers about the mother that cradled it is imprinted on Bryn's heart. With death putting a fat red 'x' through it."  
  
She watched Angel's expression, then smiled bitterly. "Kinda makes me glad I don't know my mom. They don't tell us. They take away the memory. So you don't obsess. Bryn's memories were too deeply in there, plus, she's corporeal. PTB seem to find that a little bit wall-like when it comes to making her a Star Child. She kept some of it, not all. Patience, kinda the essence."  
  
She stepped away, obviously readying herself to return to the other place. Angel paused, looking down at Bryn.  
  
"Jory?"  
  
She turned, her shape even fuzzier, blue light starting to shine through it. He frowned, puzzled.  
  
"Why don't you visit her any more? She keeps asking for you." Jory smiled again.  
  
"PTB. Decided I got 'attached'. I got a new assignment, new Star kid to watch out for, teach the ropes. I've been around a while, Angel. They like me to 'mentor'. So they moved me on. 'Sides," she stopped, her gaze direct. "I'm not her guardian anymore."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
The limousine gleamed as it rolled along in the neon lights. The brunette raised her eyebrows, taking it all in. She admired the champagne bottle in the holder with a dry smirk.  
  
"Wow. Get the whole hen night set up. I appreciate the ticket out of jail, really I do, but cards like that come at a price." She ripped open a bag of peanuts, and slipped one into her mouth, her eyes gleaming with mischief. "I'm more of a 'salty' chick. I just want to know what I've got to pay, upfront."  
  
Lindsey unlocked the briefcase perched on his knees with a small 'click', silently admiring the young woman across from him. He extracted a slim manila folder, and laid it on top of the leather briefcase.  
  
"All it needs is a signature," he said smoothly, proffering it to Faith. Faith tossed the last of the peanuts into her mouth, and scanned the contract.  
  
"It's got clauses," she commented, re-reading the interesting paragraph, concerning what was going on in the firm. Finally she tossed it back.  
  
"I don't speak lawyer," she said bluntly. "What is it you want from me?"  
  
Lindsey smiled, a hint of danger behind it. "I need an eye out. Bringing you up to speed a little. Angel has taken over Wolfram and Hart. A few of us have decided that non-evil isn't as profitable as evil was. I don't need a lawyer, but I do need someone to cover my back. I heard you were the right person?" he raised an eyebrow questioningly. Faith cocked her head on one side.  
  
"I do get a kick ass apartment, right?"  
  
Lindsey smiled.  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ` * ~ * ` * ` ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Bryn gazed solemnly around the corner, checking the corridor for stray lawyers. Xander crunched into his snack bar unthinkingly. Spike and Bryn both stared at him accusingly, matching scowls on their faces.  
  
"What?" Xander protested, through a mouthful of nutragious bar. "I'm hungry." Spike glanced at Bryn, and sighed.  
  
"Did he really have to come?' he asked, seriously. "Whelp here can hardly do construction, let alone mastermind evil."  
  
"I resent that!" Xander snapped. "I'm just as evil as you are, soul boy junior." He looked intensely satisfied with the phrase. Bryn cocked her head to one side, sizing Xander up. She straightened, and looked dead at Spike.  
  
"He's right," she shrugged.  
  
"Are we going to trip these lawyers or not?' Spike shot at Xander, intensely annoyed that Bryn seemed to have decided the whelp could be evil. Xander however, had a great big grin on his face that the four year old had indeed confirmed his evil-genius status. That she was a four year old had entirely passed him by.  
  
"Trip is good," Bryn nodded. She handed Xander one end of the twine, and Spike the other. "Stretch it," she ordered, pointing to either end of the door frame. Spike raised his eyebrows.  
  
"When did you get to be supervisor?" he asked, his blue eyes sparkling with humour. Bryn narrowed her eyes, in an uncanny resemblance to one coma-ed Seer.  
  
"Pfft. Just do it because I said so," she stated firmly, folding her arms across her chest. Spike frowned, looking at her. Bryn smiled cryptically.  
  
"Stretch further," Bryn commanded, her thumb edging toward her mouth. Although Hero Brynna Angel was always up for annoying-lawyer fun, she was still a little quiet from her and Buffy's introduction several hours ago. Dawn and Willow had gone to find food, while Buffy and Angel talked. Xander had found a nutragious bar, and Bryn and Spike plotting.  
  
"What are you doing?" A woman's voice, cool and calm came fro, behind them. She was tall, and slim, with piercing blue eyes, her dark hair pulled back in a tight knot. Bryn pointed to Xander.  
  
"He did it,' she said immediately. Xander frowned.  
  
"How come I get blamed, not you?' he shot at Spike.  
  
"Newcomer's privilege," the vampire shot back, with a smirk.  
  
"Jocasta Kingston," the woman crisply introduced herself, her gaze cold on Xander and Spike. "I suggest you clear this up. The meeting will shortly be over."  
  
Bryn stuck her tongue out at the lady's back as Jocasta Kingston walked down the hall. Spike gave a sigh.  
  
"Come on then, kidlet. Better hand you over to Willow and Dawn."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Spike, you can't smash anything up here," Cordelia observed, inspecting her nails, idly wondering if the astral planes could conjure up a decent pearly finish polish. The blond vampire stalked up and down, his fists clenched. Cordy watched him go, her head tilting slightly to the side, observing the benefits of leather pants. Buffy may be the ho biscuit of the undead (currently pulling the 'oh my god, I'm the mother of your child? Bat eyelashes, , but Spike's buns did look more than okay in a coating of leather.  
  
'Spike buns. Buns of Spike. Cordelia, you so need to get laid,' she thought to herself miserably. When Casper, the annoying non corporeal vampire started looking attractive, Cordelia Chase just knew it didn't bode well.  
  
"Well look at him!" the vampire finally exploded. "All big hair, and kicked puppy eyes. Who bloody wants to sleep with the sodding Andrex puppy?"  
  
Wow. When 'bloody' and 'sodding' got mentioned in a half-second space, it was a meaningful moment for the vampire. Either that, or he'd partially materialised in one of Angel's pep talks to the staff.  
  
"Why aren't you pissed?" he whipped around, folding his arms across his chest, scowling darkly. "Angel and Buffy. That never ends well. Last time, he tried to end the sodding world when they slept together."  
  
Cordelia nodded. "Yup. They know it too. Plus, there's the whole angsty sub- tones of this little get-together. I doubt this is gonna get R-rated."  
  
Buffy curled up on the couch, her feet tucked underneath her. Angel handed her a mug of chocolate. She sniffed, appreciatively, and smiled, shyly.  
  
"It smells good," she said softly. "Chocolate in France is to die for, but I always missed yours." She looked down at the mug quickly, biting her lip.  
  
Spike made a dismissive sound. "So the vampire makes hot chocolate. Just makes you fat."  
  
"A truly romantic argument as to why she should stick to you, ghost boy," Cordelia observed from her own corner.  
  
"We need to-" Angel dropped into an armchair, drawing it closer to the couch. The dim light of the lamp glowed softly.  
  
"Talk?" Buffy finished for him. She smiled again bitterly, nodding. "I knew it. Nothing ever comes up without pain, or feelings, or talking."  
  
"Yes, because you're a doomed romance," Cordelia informed her. She rolled her eyes. "Soul mates never works out. Look at Romeo and Juliet." She frowned, invisaging balcony scenes, and poetry. "Alternatively, don't."  
  
"Why didn't you tell me, Angel?" Buffy demanded, standing up, clutching at her mug. "A word on the phone, hey, Buffy, you have a kid that you don't remember, a kid who doesn't even want you? Do I not even merit an explanation these days? God, Angel, you've had weeks, months to know her. Our daughter. I'd known about her existence five seconds, and I still don't understand how she does exist. This thing about you being human," the mug shattered in her hand under the pressure. The Slayer blinked at it a moment, a little shocked.  
  
"I didn't know a lot," Angel interrupted. "I didn't know what she liked, what she didn't, Buffy, I ate children, I didn't look after them. I didn't know she'd seen you die," he said quietly.  
  
"Commnence the angsty pain," Cordelia rolled her eyes once more. "You know, they should have a soundtrack. Something romantic and swell-y.. Y'know, rises up when they get all emotional and stuff."  
  
"What would mine and Buffy's be then, love?" Spike asked lazily.  
  
"'Oops, I did it again," Cordelia answered immediately.  
  
Buffy's eyes filled with shock. "She saw me-' she whispered.  
  
"Buffy, I know it's hard for you. But she's four. She has to learn to know you again, and it was a shock. For both of you," Angel said softly, taking her hand. She looked at it, a little surprised.  
  
"Get your thieving paws off her," Spike grouched, his arms folded.  
  
* ` * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *  
  
A/N: *sigh*. Long chapter. But plot advancement. I beg of you, review, I am up at two thirty, and I have work in less than six hours. I'm going to bed. *sigh*. However, I did a chapter for you guys, so-  
  
REVIEW! 


	8. Fishie

A/N: Well met by moonlight - uh, the quotation goes, 'proud Titania', but I am infinitely humble. Sorry about the long wait, people, I had block on *all* kid fic, not just this, and university applications are coming up. It's a plotty chapter, so read on.  
  
Thank you gidgetgirl, as always, for throwing plot-bunnies my way at the same time as I was recovering for block. I have two non-uploaded kid-fic starts due to her. *glare*  
  
Jocasta Kingston sat back in her chair, idly trailing her fingers over the chunky paperweight on her desk, a round glass orb. She gazed out of the window disinterestedly, watching the sun go down on Los Angeles with a vague detachment. She did not care what was going on outside the law-firm. It was what was within it that counted.  
  
Eighteen years, she had worked in the firm. Her perfectly presented fingertips had brushed power; she hadn't given up her time, her life and. other things, to sit around at the beck and call of a do-good vampire. Jocasta's forehead creased in irritation. Wrestling the firm back would be difficult -Extensive screening had rooted out those who were hostile to Angel and his merry gang, except those bright enough to cover their minds, or pay someone big bucks to do it for them.  
  
Still, it had also rooted out the weaker among her allies. Those left knew how to cover their butts. It would be necessary. Wrestling the firm away from the vampire would require thinking.  
  
She cocked her head on one side, thinking quietly, her clear blue eyes contemplative. She could bide her time.  
  
Buffy leaned across, and placed a block on top of Bryn's tower. The little girl was meticulously stacking the brightly coloured wooden blocks into a wavering tower, bigger than she was, but as the blonde helped her, she shot the woman a fearsome scowl, her face scrunched into an expression of immense displeasure. Sighing quietly, Buffy backed off, sitting down on the couch to observe, as Bryn plucked the top block off the tower delicately, between her finger and thumb, and dropped it on the floor.  
  
'Acting out. Acting out,' the Slayer repeated to herself silently, her shoulders tensing. She knew the child was reacting to her presence for a reason, but - damnit, Bryn got along with Spike, for heaven's sakes!  
  
The door swung open into the small room, used mainly for clients waiting, and Angel appeared at the door, a smile on his face. Bryn, with a look of intense concentration flitting across her tiny features, knocked over the tower to the ground with a great crash, that made Buffy jump.  
  
"Bryn, sweetie, what are you doing?' Angel asked, holding out his arms. Bryn ran into them, and he scooped her up, whirling her around as she giggled. Buffy swallowed.  
  
"Playing demolition," Bryn replied sweetly. "Spike taught me." Angel restrained himself from thinking about Spike/Bryn interaction, and forced himself to concentrate.  
  
"How'd you like to go see a movie, Bryn?" he asked, letting her down onto the floor. Bryn opened her mouth to speak, but then the little Nudge came, and she cocked her head on one side, thinking then said, her finger tapping her chin,  
  
"I don't know. I'd have to check my diary. But I think I could fit you in."  
  
"Your kid is weird, Angel," Gunn rolled his eyes, catching Bryn's last comment. He grinned at her, poking his tongue out at her. She immediately did the same back.  
  
"Nah, those are Buffy's genes," Angel said off-hand, smiling at the Slayer. Bryn scowled instantly. She didn't want her Daddy to smile at Her. Daddy was her's, not the lady's.  
  
"What movie are we going to see?" she demanded, tugging her Daddy's hand. Angel looked down at her, and ruffled her hair. His eyes lifted, and met Buffy's.  
  
"I can't remember. What film, Buffy?" Bryn's eyes widened in indignation. SHE wasn't coming, was She?  
  
"Finding Nemo," Buffy replied, smiling gratefully back at Angel, her eyebrows raising to communicate the message. He was trying to make it easier, he was, it was just - difficult.  
  
"I don't want Her to come," Bryn said immediately, glaring at Buffy. Angel hunched down, to her height, and tugged Bryn's hand until she met his eyes, reluctantly.  
  
"Bryn honey, I know you're really confused right now, but Buffy, she's your mom. And she really wants to get to know you. Why don't you invite her to come along with us, and show her you want to be her friend?"  
  
Bryn sighed very reluctantly and nodded, then leaned forward to whisper in his ear, looking toward Buffy.  
  
"If She has to come, Spike does too." Angel sighed, meeting her eyes once more.  
  
"You're pushing your luck, kiddo."  
  
"What work have we done thus far?" Jocasta asked, trailing her fingers over the rounded glass orb, holding a stack of papers neatly in place. Her ice blue eyes fell upon Lindsey, and she lifted her chin expectantly.  
  
"Faith?" she inquired. The dark-haired Slayer's eyes flicked to Lindsey, trying to telegraph her anxiety. She had no idea what the woman wanted.  
  
"She and I have been working together, Miss Kingston," he said smoothly. Jocasta gave a little sigh of annoyance.  
  
"You then," she stated. Fait met the lawyer's eyes from her position across the room. It was only a couple of days into her 'position' but the meeting had been called by the leader of the little group of vigilantes, and when she called, they came.  
  
"We've looked into it. The firm is built on a basis, deep-rooted into the dimension. Every level of that is wrapped around Angel's name, and the group. It's not going to be easy to get it out again," he answered steadily, meeting her gaze.  
  
"So we need power," Jocasta mused, her voice low. She gestured to the man next to Lindsey impatiently, a man, Faith noted, that came under one of Angel's cronies' department.  
  
The dark man bowed his head. "We cannot foresee a way to get that power, other than the source you suggested. However, there is no way to access that resource."  
  
Jocasta's eyes went icy cold. "Then find a way."  
  
She dismissed them, dropping into the chair with a tired sigh. She massaged her temples, her eyes closing, and then, checking that no one was in the office, picked up the paperweight from her desk.  
  
She set it on the desk, then whispered a couple of low words, making the orb glow a dull gold. It cleared, and she could see the power she wanted, needed, right in front of her. Jocasta's eyes narrowed. She would get it.  
  
A face formed in the gleam of the orb, its face wistful. Bright blue eyes focused on something beyond the watcher. Jocasta's expression softened, and one finger rose involuntarily to caress the glass.  
  
* * * * * * * * *  
  
'But sir, I- I- it's my choice.'  
  
'It's your choice, Miss Kingston, as to whether you continue here. Your potential- It would be sad to see you go, but we will understand.'  
  
'No!'  
  
"Well then.. '  
  
* * * * * * *  
  
Jocasta sprang back from the glass, and the glow went out. She would have her back. Soon.  
  
"That was so cool!' Bryn enthused, skipping out of the movie theatre, her hands firmly enclasped by Buffy on one side, and Angel on the other. She looked up at Spike, unconscious of the fact. "Did you like the movie, Spike?"  
  
Spike glanced from Buffy, to Angel, to Bryn, then back to Angel. "One sodding happy family outing is this, then?" he murmured, too low for anyone other than his grandsire to pick up on.  
  
"Different kind of family," Angel said immediately back, shooting him a warning look.  
  
"Spi-ike," Bryn whined, stamping her foot impetulantly. Spike looked back at her.  
  
"Yeah, quarter-pint. I can say that of all the Disney movies I have ever seen, that was the best." His tone was laden thickly with sarcasm.  
  
"S'not Disney," muttered Angel. He met Spike's amused gaze, and stiffened defensively. "What? It's not."  
  
"It's too easy," Spike told empty air. "Really."  
  
"Daddy? Can we go get a fish? Please?" Bryn gave her daddy the sad-eyes he always fell for. Angel glanced at Buffy.  
  
"How 'bout you two go get a fish, and I'll talk to Spike here," he suggested.  
  
"Okay," Bryn shrugged. Buffy stared at her. Normally, the kid was completely unco-operative. Before she could stop herself, she blurted out,  
  
"What's wrong with you?"  
  
Bryn stared at her, her face completely blank. Buffy laughed a little.  
  
"Normally, you act like I'm gonna bite." Bryn shot her a disdainful look, that made the woman feel worm-high.  
  
"I want a fish," she shrugged again. Buffy shook her head. Bryn seemed to have inherited her sense of tact from Cordelia and Anya, rather than her.  
  
"See my fish, Jory?" Bryn pointed to the goldfish, swimming placidly in its bowl on the side. Jory smiled at the little girl.  
  
"Yup. I do," she answered, watching it again. The goldfish watched her back, its lips silently mouthing, 'blub'.  
  
"See, Jory, it goes round and round, kinda like Dory. You know, your name is kinda like Dory," Bryn considered it, and giggled. "I wanted a Dory- fish, but they only have yellow fish. I like yellow."  
  
"Me too," Jory agreed, smiling again, softly. Bryn smiled back.  
  
"So Buffy isn't so bad, then?" Jory probed, a little grin on her lips now. Bryn shook her head.  
  
"I guess so. I'm not sure. She let me get the big fish tank."  
  
"Oh," Jory nodded gravely, trying not to smile now.  
  
Jocasta watched, her eyes wide, as the one she had watched for so long, took the hand of the little girl, and let her follow into the dimension and - the glow flashed bright, and then died, but Jocasta had seen what she needed.  
  
The key to the Star children lay in the child. Hero Brynna Angel.  
  
A/N: A difficult chapter to get out, having struggled with writer's block. There's a couple more chapters, but I doubt this will go over twelve. If you want an update soon,  
  
REVIEW!!! 


End file.
